Well-drilling machine



Sept. 9, 1930. V J. H. WlLT 1,775,578

WELL DRILLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 8. 198 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTOR NEY Sept.9, 1930. J. H. WILT WELL DRILLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 8, 192a 4Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 9, 1930. J. H. w1| 'r WELL DRILLING MACHINE FiledAug. 8, 1928 4 Shuts-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY Sept. 9, 1930. J. H. WlLT WELLDRILLING MACHINE 4 Sheet s-Sheet 4 (ZZZ TVZ'Zt, .NVENTQR ATTORNEYPatentedv Sept; 9, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JACOB H. WILT, FMEDINA, OHIO WELL-MILLING mourns Application filed August 8, 1928.Serial No. 298,286.

ble; which can be quickly driven to the lace of operation, easily andquickly erecte for operation and speedy in its drilling action so thatthe same may be profitably operated.

The invention will be fully and comprehensively understood from aconsideration of the following detaileddescription when readinconnection with the accompanying drawings which form part of theapplication, with the understanding, however, that the improvement iscapable of extended application andis not confined to the exact showingof the drawings nor to the precise construction described and,therefore, such 2 changes and modifications may be made therefrom as donot affect the spirit of the invention nor exceed the scope thereof asexpressed in the'appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing my improvement set up foroperation.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the device collapsed and folded'fortransportation. Figure 3 is a detail enlarged sectional viewapproximately on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an end view'ofthe device in the position described by Figure1.

Figure 5 is a detail elevation to illustrate the manner in which thesand line drum is mounted and movable into or out of engagee ment withthe friction wheel.

'Figure 6 is a view substantially similar to Figure 5 but illustratingthe manner in which the wire line drum is mounted to be brought into orout of engagement with the friction wheel.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the brake means on one end of the wireor tool line drum.

Figure 8 is a detail perspective view to illustrate the latch carried bythe lower mast section and engage'able withthe rounds of the upper mastsectionsfor adjustably connecting the mast sections. 1

provement. The bed is really in the nature Figure 9 is a detailsectional view showing the manner in which the latch engages under around of the upper mast section.

My improved drilling apparatus is designed to be mounted on the body ofa motortruck, as disclosed by the drawings. The truck body is broadlyindicated by the numeral 1. On the truck body, at the rear of thedrivers seat I secure the bed 2 of the imof a metal frame and has itssides, at its ends provided with upstanding posts 33 and 4-4, the saidposts being braced by angle braces 5-5 and longitudinal braces 66. Thebraced posts 3 have their upper ends connected by a transverse member orhead 8. The braced posts 4 have supported and fixed on their upper endsa shaft 7. The shaft 7 is engaged by bearings 9 on the sides 10 of thelower mast section. The sides or legs of the lower mast section havetheir lower or outer ends provided with couplings 11 in which arescrewed the ends of a connecting elementior pipe 12. The couplings alsopreferably are formed 'with heads 13, which afiord wide bearing surfaceswhen the lower mast section is arranged. inground contacting position.The sides or legs of the lower mast section are spaced away from eachother a distance greater than the width of the truck body but have theirupper por tions gradually inclined toward each other, as at 14, and fromthence extended in parallelism, as at 15. The parts 15 of the legs areconnected together by spaced inner and outer brace plates 1616 and 1717, respectively and these brace plates, with the confronting faces'ofthe portions 15 of the lower mast legs provide guides for the legs 18 ofthe outer or upper mast section.

The outer mastsection is, of course, slidable in the lower mast sectionand the outer mast section is provided with spaced rounds 19-,respectively. Attached to the lower or inner round 19 of the outer mastsection there is a sheave wheel 20, and fixed to the next lower round 19of the outer mast section there is a cable 21 that is trained around asheave wheel 22 supported on the inner or lower brace plate 16 of thelower mast section, this by the said plate 16, and this cable may betrained around the drums for either the tool line or the sand line oraround a winch 24 which is fixed on one end of the power imparting shaft25, which will later be described in detail.

What I have termed the lower mast section has its legs provided withtruss braces 26,

as clearly disclosed by the drawings and the outer or swingable mastsection has its legs connected at its outer end by a tubular member 27on which there are mounted for rotation spaced grooved wheels 28 and 29,respectively. The wheels are held spaced by any desired or preferredmeans, and the wheel 28 is designed to have trained thereover the sandline 30 while the wheel 29 has trained thereover the wire tool line 31.

Fixed on the outer upper brace plate 17 i of the inner or lower mastsection there are upstanding plates 32 that have eye ends in which thereis either fixed'or j ournaled a rod or shaft 33. On the rod or shaft 33there are revolubly mounted a pair of stop arms 34. These arms areconnected by a rod 35, and to this rod there is secured a light line orwire 36. It'is to be noted that the pivot rod 33 passes through the stoparms 34'beyond the center of the said arms, so that the arms are thusweighted. By operating the cable 21 the slidable or outer mast sectionis elevated or drawn outwardly from the inner mast section and bypermitting the stop arms to swing upward-of the rounds 19 of the outermast section and, of course, both of the transverse outer braces 17 ofthe inner mast section, the outer mast section is sustained at desiredelevations with respect to the inner mast section.

Initially, or when the device is not required for use or is beingtransportedthe slidable mast section is moved inwardly through theswingable mast section and both of the mast sections rest on the shaft 7and the head 8 on the frames of the bed 2. When it is desired to bringthe device to operative position I attach a removable sheave block 37 tothe connecting element 12 of the lower or swingable mast section andtrain therethrough a cable 38 which has one of its ends fixed to the bed'2 and its other end wound around either of the drums or the winch 24.A. pull upon this cable will swin both of the mast sections on the shaft7, bringin the mast to a vertical.

slidable mast section and suitable points on the ground. The mast may beset up and se curely supported in an easy and expeditious manner and aspreviously stated, the swingable mast section rests directly on theground surface or ratherthe elements 13 contact with such surface. Theimprovement, of course, includes a power plant which for the sake ofeconomy I make use of the power plant employed for driving a small andwell known type of automobile. The drive shaft of this power plant isindicated by the numeral 41. The shaft 41 has freely journaled on oneend thereof a worm 42 that is in mesh with a worm wheel 43. The worm 42has a clutch surface 44 on one end thereof and the drive shaft 41carries a key that is received in a key-way in a slidable clutch element45. The clutch element 45 is provided with the usual groove ordepression to receive the forked end of a clutch slide or operatingmember therein. Of course, all of the parts just described are suitablyenclosed and as a matter-of-fact, run from a bath of oil and the clutchslide yoke or head is connected to an arm'or rod 46 that passes throughan opening in the housing 47 for the shaft, clutch elements and wheels.The rod 46 has its outer end con nected to an arm which in turn isconnected with a link 48, and this link has a connection '49 with atransversely arranged shaft 50 which has its ends journaled in suitablebearings-and one of its ends fornied with an up standing portionproviding aghandle 51.

By swinging the handle 51 it will be seen that the clutch 45 may bemoved into or out of engagement with the clutch element 49 and also byreference to the drawings it will be seen that the shaft 25 is fixed tothe worm wheel 43. The clutch element 45 is brought out ofengagementwith the clutch element 44 when the motor is running and it is found notdesirable to have the shaft 25 rotated or when the planetary gears inthe power plant are to be actuated to cause the shaft 25 to turn at hi'h or low speeds or in a reverse earing being 9.6-

direction, the c iange speed p tuated by levers 52, res .tively arrangedin rear of the bed-2 and, 0 course, connected by rods 53, respectively,to swingable elements that in turn are connected to the v pedals whichoperate the gears.

On one end of the shaft 25 there is fixed the winch 24 and directlyinward of the winch the said shaft 25 has fixed thereon a friction wheel54.

The second end of the shaft 25 has loosely arranged thereon a crank 55.The hubportion of the crank which is received on the shaft 25 carries aclutch 56. Mounted for movement on splines on the shaft 25 there is aslidable clutch element 57. This element is provided with the usualannular groove that is engaged by the fork 58 and which fork isconnected to an operatinglever 59 at the rear of the bed.

The friction wheel 54 is centrally formed with a rim enlargement that isdesigned to be received in a groove 60 or what may be termed a femalefriction wheel 61 on one end of the drum 62 for the wire tool line. Thesecond end of the drum 62 carries a brake Wheel 63 over which is traineda brake band 64. One of the ends of the brake band is connected directlyto a shaft 65 and the other end of the brake band is connected to spacedarms 66 that are fixed on the shaft 65. a The shaft for the drum andbrake wheel is indi cated by the numeral 67 and is, of course, journaledin suitable bearings. One end of the shaft 67 is mounted in an eccentrichearing 68 which extends a slight but suitable distance through itsbearin box 69, and has attached thereto an arm T0 connected by a link 71to a crank 72 on the shaft 65. The end of the shaft 65 has fixed thereonan op erating lever 73. It will be apparent that by swinging the lever73 in one direction the friction wheel on the drive will be moved intoengagement with the friction wheel 54 and the motor driven shaft 25which also causes the slacking of the brake band on the brake wheel andwhen the lever is swung to a second direction the friction wheel on thedrum will he brought out of engagement with thefriction wheel 54 andthebrake band will be tightened on the brake wheel thereby holding the drumfrom turning.

The drum 74 forthe sand line is located above the tool line drum 62,being positioned directly over the friction wheel 54. The

an eccentric bearing 76, the bear-in shaft '7 5 for the drum 74 is alsomounted in being revoluble ina bearing box 77 there or, and beingprovided with an operating lever 78 whereby a friction wheel 79 on thesaid drum is brought against or sustained away from engagement with thefriction wheel 54. Itis to be noted that all of the operating levers arearranged at the rear of the device, and, therefore, in close proximityfor convenient handling by the operator of the drill.

On the sides or legs of the swingable derrick section there are fixedboxings or bearings 7 9 for a shaft 80. The shaft 80 extends through oneof its bearings 7 9 and has fixed thereon a block or boxing to whoseopposite faces there are secured the inner and thickened ends of leafsprings 81, the outer ends of the said leaf springs being connected byshackles to arms 83 which are secured to the opposite sides of a pitman84, and the said pitman has its lower end connected to the crank 55...

On the shaft 80 there are fixed the thickened ends of oppositely-archedpairs of leaf 7 springs 8585. These leaf springs are also preferablysecured on boxes that are fixed on the shaft 80, and the outer ends ofthese outer sheave wheel 87, being directed therefrom over thesheavewheel 28.

directed or curved pairs of springs impart a successive thrust andjerking action to the wire tool line. Thus the rapidly moving tool lineis subjected to what may be-termed an elastic whip lash action in the upand down movement of the tools, which insures a perfect drillingoperation and absorbs all shocks and jars. Also with this arrangementthe necessity of a longitudinally movable ortelescopic crank for thepitman is entirely obviated.

The parts operated by the engine or power plant, turn, as previouslystated, in a bath of oiland are, therefore, constantly lubricated. Thereduction gear, that is, the worm and the worm gear, insures a constantand steady action of the crank and pitman. The clutch releases the crankaction for elevating the tools while leaving the lines threaded. Thetransmission serves to increase speed for pulling out tools, etc., whilea change of enginespeed may be readily and quickly obtained. Theimprovement, except for the pitman, is constructed wholly of steel andis, of course, light in weight. The improvement is also small andcompact so that the mast, when thesections thereof are telescoped andarranged over the truck body will permit of the said truck travelingthrough any ordinary traffic to haul the improvement in an expeditiousmanner to the place where the well is to be drilled. The truck, with theimprovement supported thereover, is not materially increased in lengthand may be received in any ordinary garage.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1. In a portable well drilling machine, a'

mast made up of a pivotally supported section swingable to horizontaland to vertical positions, means for supporting the mast section ineither of'such positions, and a second sheave carrying section slidablyassociated with the pivoted section, and means for latching the slidablesection adjusted with respect to the pivoted section.

2. In a portable well drilling machine, a mast comprising a pivotallysupported section swingable to horizontal and to vertical positions,means supporting the mast section in either of such positions and asecond sheave carrying mast section slidably associated with the pivotedmast section, means, comprising a cable trained over-pulleys foradjusting The springs just described are important features of theinvention. These oppositely the slidable mast section with respect tothe pivotally supported mast section, a swingable cable operated latchcarried by the pivotally supported mast section, swin able to engage inthe slidable mast section for holding the mast sections adjusted.

3. In a portable well drilling machine, the combination with a motoractuated itman, and a mast adjacent to said pitman, o a shaft journaledin the mast, a grooved wheel fixed on the shaft over which-the toolactuating cable is trained, curved springs fixed on the shaft andconnected with the pitman, and oppositely curved springs also fixed onthe shaft and a guide Wheel journaled through the ends of said lastnamed oppositely curved springs for the tool line.

4. In a well drilling machine, a shaft over which a tool line istrained, yieldable means for imparting an oscillatory movement to theshaft, and spring means carried by the shaft and guide means carried bythe spring means for the tool line.

5. In a well drilling machine, the combination of a shaft, a pitman forimparting an oscillatory rotary movement to the shaft, a cantileverspring connection between the shaft and the pitman, said shaft having atool line trained thereover, laminated springs secured tot-he shaft andextending in the s: 1e direction of and at an opposite angle to thespring connection between the shaft and pitman, and a roller journaledbetween the last mentioned springs and providing a guide for a toolline.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

JACOB H. WILT.

